Hard Times and Hardening Attitudes: The Economic Downturn and the Rise of Violence Against Roma
Hard Times and Hardening Attitudes: The Economic Downturn and the Rise of Violence Against Roma

Summary/Abstract: “Two months ago in Hungary, Jeno Koka went out his front door to go to work at the same factory he had worked at for decades and was shot to death in front of his own home. His 84-year-old father is a Holocaust survivor. In the Czech Republic, even as we hold this briefing, two-year-old Natalie Sivakova is still fighting for her life in intensive care after her home was fire-bombed, leaving her burned on over 80 percent of her body. In February, also in Hungary, five-year-old – and I’ve read another article where it said he was four-year-old – but a too-young child, Robert Csorba, and his father were riddled with bullets to prevent them from escaping their fire-bombed home. These deaths are absolute tragedies and appear to be part of a larger and escalating pattern of deadly violence against Roma.” United States Congressman Alcee L. Hastings Co-chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe CSCE Hearing on the rise of violence against Roma 9 June 2009, Washington, D.C.

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